A Long Time

       Sorry for such the long wait! I really have been so busy with schoolwork that I decided to wait until I found extra time to make a post! Last week I went on a trip to Pacífico Central and stayed a night with my friends in a hotel that was way overpriced for its quality! So here is a summary of that trip and how I've been doing for the past couple weeks!

       We first went there with the ACM group and a couple of professors to go on a tour of a tropical forest and learn about the different types of animal ecosystems that exist there. It was very extensive (the tour guide was awesome) and I learned a lot. It was amazing to see a line of huge ants crawling along the pathway and carrying pieces of plants to make a home for the queen ant. It was cool and awesome to see such teamwork for such small creatures. Seriously, by glancing down at the floor, all you could see were the pieces of plants in a long line, that's how huge and strong the ants are. After that we went to a gorgeous beach nearby! It was only about twenty minutes away! The only negative thing was that the water was very cold, like the beaches in California (especially the one near my house)! But the beauty made up for it.

       There were so many palm trees, as you can see from my picture above. All of us loved climbing them. Although you can't see the ground in the picture above, the tree is pretty high up from it. It is mind-blowing now to think about how high up we really climbed on that tree. I do remember being scared though whenever someone would jump off the branch and the whole thing would shake for those of us still on it!! So if you look at how the branch curves upward in the picture, you can see the destination that I was aiming for as I bravely climbed the branch with my friends. Of course, I asked Joey ahead of time if it was okay if I fell, just to be sure! Well, he told me since it was sand that would break my fall, it wouldn't be that bad if I fell...so I listened to him and started climbing farther than any of my friends!!! I still remember feeling my heart pounding as I looked at that upward point as my goal destination. Of course being the ambitious and daring woman I am, I didn't just want to reach it just to reach it...I also wanted to stand up alongside it! Well, finally my friend Christina saw me climbing and yelled, "Crystal, you are so brave, I could never climb that far up!" I yelled back, "I'm going to try to stand up alongside it for a great picture." It wasn't until she said, "No Crystal don't do it, you don't realize how high up you are right now" that I actually looked down. Let's just say I decided to stop there and have a picture taken of me where I was! It was a looong way down, a lot more than I realized!

       And then we had a wonderful surprise when Joey mentioned that there was something cool to see at the other side of the beach! Now I'm not really that much of a fan of birds - but this sight truly was amazing. There were more than nine Scarlet Macaws all together in these tree branches and not more than ten feet in front of us (see picture above!). I can definitely think of someone who would have passed out if he had gotten the chance to see this (wink wink). We also could hear them eating the seeds and making bird sounds. Their colors were so bright and beautiful! These birds are one of the most endangered birds on our planet, and I can't believe I got the chance to be this close to them!

       The next day, I went on an awesome crocodile tour! We got to be so close the crocodile that you could touch them! I was going to and then take a picture, but the crocodile swam away before I could! The guide fed them by swatting a piece of squid I think on the water to get their attention and then led them up onto an island of sand while holding up the piece of meat in the air. Then the crocodile all of a sudden would jump up with it's jaws open and snatch the piece of meat from the guide's hand. :]

       This past Friday ACM took us to Heredia to see Chris's farm and see first-hand the preservation of water. We first went on a beautiful hike for about half an hour to see beautiful views of natural landscapes. I'm glad my friends brought their cameras because the views were breathtaking, like much of Costa Rica. I forgot my water bottle though, which I tend to do a lot recently. :( The path was very rocky, but all of us were wearing appropriate shoes so none of us fell, thank goodness! Afterwards, we saw how the family uses water preservation to grow bananas in a land that wasn't meant for them. There were so many mosquitoes though that I couldn't even focus on what the guide was saying because I was too busy swatting them off my body and those around me! Afterwards, we had a very lovely buffet on Chris's farm! So all in all, the trip was lovely, but I have very horrible mosquito bites to suffer from because of it! I really miss home and can't wait to see you guys again!!! Until then!

Change of Thought

       So, it hasn´t been a while since the last time I posted, but I thought I should post today since I have the time. Not that much has changed since the last post, but oh well! I guess I can just go more into detail about Llano Bonito and Costa Rica! I´m already more than half-way through my time here. The time during the days are going faster, but at the same time, time still feels like it stops here and I don´t progress forward!

       I am very grateful that I don´t have to pay to take buses here, since everything is so close in this community! The place where I teach my computer lessons to the women in the Proal is only about a five minute walk from my host family´s house! That´s a lot different than the 40 minute travel distance time with a bus from my host family´s house in San José to the ACM building! When I give my lessons as private lessons, which has only occurred a couple nights since the women have only asked for those specific nights, the farthest house is also less than ten minutes away. I have no fear of walking alone at nights here in the fog too! This community is very safe and chill; whether or not you want to believe it´s because this community mainly consists of women, you can analyze that correlation.

       The picture above is an example of how the fog looks pretty here among the greenery! Just like how it rains here everyday, sometimes around six hours a day, there is fog everyday here as well!!! Not just at night, but during the days too! It reminds me of a scary movie sometimes when I´m walking along the trails here and I can barely see the tree right in front of me! But again, this community is so chill and safe, I have no fear of being mugged or attacked - no matter where I am in the community or at what hour. Vanessa and Judy, two staff members of ACM, came out to Llano Bonito today to see how Christina and I are doing in the community and with our volunteer work. Let´s just say by the end of the hour, they wanted to pack their things and move the ACM building here because the views are so beautiful! Also, the community members are so close, it seems like everyone knows everyone! It was funny because they told my host mom that they weren´t hungry (because it was lunch time for me) - but she still did the Tican way and convinced them to eat something. :) So Elliot would cringe at that time because they said that they weren´t hungry, but ended up eating a bowlful of vanilla ice-cream with chocolate pieces in them and strawberry jell-o. Haha, I eat so many calories here in Costa Rica with every meal.
     
       The reason why I named this post ¨Change of Thought¨ is because I was stating in my last post that I wish I had more to do here because I feel somewhat bored and as if I´m not helping the community at all! But I have discovered a way to help myself go more with the flow here in Llano Bonito. Instead of feeling like I have a volunteer schedule to attend or that I have any schedule at all, I now view my time here as purely vacational. In that sense, I feel more comfortable being what I consider ¨lazy¨ and just sitting around the house all day. I still wish that I could have more things to do here, but at least this way, I don´t feel like I´m not being a good volunteer. I pretty much don´t even ask anymore the next time I´m going to the Proal to help with computer classes or making shampoo...I just wait until they ask me to come over! I figure that if they want to learn computer skills, I should adapt to the culture here to teach them. Granted, that means that I´m not teaching them anything really since there isn´t any structure or time-schedules!...but one of my problems here might be trying to make a culture more structured when they don´t want to or change to be more efficient. So this is what I mean when I have changed my thought here in Llano Bonito with my way of living and teaching the computer classes! It seems to be working so far!

        The host family here is very different from the one I have in San José. LB family doesn´t have any pets because the mother has really bad alergies and shoos away any dogs coming near our house, while the SJ family has a pet bird and everyone loves dogs. LB family doesn´t like to leave the house that much and sits inside and watches TV all day, while the SJ family has a mom that is the same way, but the 24 year-old sister likes to take me out places, like the movies, city parades, bars...etc. All of these comparisons, by the way, are somewhat unbalanced because of the different locations (for example, there isn´t anything really fun here to do in Llano Bonito, instead of San José where there is much to do). Also, because the community is a lot safer than San José, my LB family never cautions me against the men in the community or walking around late at night or not wearing my shorts, whereas my SJ family is constantly telling me this. The interesting thing though is that the families in San José warn us about wearing shorts and strapless shirts and such, but we see the University of Costa Rica students wearing just that. I´m not sure if the families are just being extra-cautious, or because we stick out more and have the American easy-gringa stereotype because the naive people in Costa Rica believe since we´re from America, OBVIOUSLY we´re just like the stupid reality TV shows like Jersey Shore. Nevertheless, Christina and I don´t have to worry about those dangers in San José here. My LB family only has all females, while my SJ family has a father that lives in the house and a brother that lives in the backyard house. My LB family is a LOT less polite and formal than my SJ family (but still polite)! For example, I don´t feel pressured here to say ¨please¨ and ¨thank you¨ and ¨you´re very welcome¨ in all of my sentences here like I do in San José. :) I feel more comfortable here in that aspect because I feel like I can be more of myself. ;)

       My host mom here is so loud, she wakes me up serveral times in the morning around 6:00am when she´s getting her daughter ready for high school. I know the houses in Costa Rica seem to have very paper-thin walls so you can normally hear everything going on in the houses, but I know she normally talks very loud and somewhat cackles because the town members have joked around saying that by the time I get back to San José, I´m going to be screaming to my family members because I will have gone partially deaf! Sometimes, when I´m reading my very difficult Spanish book here and I need her to help me understand a Costa Rican phrase, she is sitting right next to me, but is talking so loud that my ears actually hurt. I also can tell if she is visiting neighbors down the road because I can hear her cackling from sitting in the living room in our house. I´ve often wondered if she has a hearing problem and that´s why she speaks so loud... Either way, she´s definitely what I would call an interesting character!

       The families here seem to coddle their children, or act like it I mean. They also seem a lot more touchy-touchy than in San José! My host mom here is constantly touching my hair and sitting right next to me to hold me in her arms and give me hugs. I know it´s not just me though because I´ve seen Christina´s host mom do the same thing! I´m wondering if that has anything to do with the feeling of family and sense of security here within the women of Llano Bonito. Or maybe it´s just because this community consists mostly of females and we tend to be more touchy-touchy anyways! It´s very different from my family in the United States and it´s taken a little getting used to for me personally! Since it´s my host mom and not my host dad, I really don´t mind, honestly!! It´s just very different. As far as being emotionally close though, I connect more with my host family in San José because they´re more of my intrinsic personality type!! But both host families are super nice and treat me well!

        It´s funny how I have certain things now that I look forward to in the day. They´re so simple and common, but feel like the highlights of my days. My number one thing I look forward to everyday is waking up and having hot chocolate on the kitchen table ready with my breakfast! The hot chocolate tastes much better here than any hot chocolate I can remember having in the United States (and Christina agrees) because the cocoa is more smooth and has a fluffier taste...if that makes any sense. I also look forward to using the internet everday so I can chat with Elliot, post on my blog, check my e-mail and facebook. Some things that I took for granted in the United States - but having to walk up a steep hill just to use the internet everday for only a couple hours really makes you more grateful. :)

       Another thing I look forward to everyday is running at night! I never thought I would look as forward to working out as I do here, but I do. It is something that I associate with doing back home in the United States and it makes me feel a little bit less guilty for eating so much here. And I eat here thoughout the entire day! The warm shower after is a real treat because I believe my host house here is one of the only ones in the community that has access to warm water. I´m so - so - so- grateful to have access to warm water, even if it´s only warm and not hot!!!!!! Since my body is warm from running anways, it really is nice!

       So. This trip to Llano Bonito has been just like my Costa Rica trip so far: one of the most difficult, but rewarding trips ever. I know that going back to the United States in December and chatting with my friends in Spanish will really help me realize how much my Spanish has grown! Or continuing to watch Eva Luna in the United States, since it is a novela (Spanish soap opera) that I can watch to help my Spanish progress even more forward. If anything, that is one thing I am doing the most here in Llano Bonito - working on my Spanish fluency and confidence. Although I talk to Christina everyday in English here, almost no one else speaks English. So I constantly find myself having to wrack my brain for Spanish words or how to word something differently when I can´t think of the word and my host family is waiting for me to continue my sentence. Sometimes their faces are so funny because they look just as confused as I am while I´m searching for how to say something in Spanish. Sooner or later, we find a way though. :) My professors at ACM tell me that my Spanish is greatly improving! That is the number one reason I decided to study in Costa Rica, so that is great news to me! Well, until next time family and friends. Since I´m almost half-way through the program, time is most likely really going to fly by now!! Miss you back at home. :)

Missing Home

       I titled this post "Missing Home" because it is what I feel most strongly right now! I´m having a great time here and this has been such a learning experience for me so far...but I miss Elliot and my family! At least the scenery is absolutely beautiful, like the photo above from Cahuita! Anyways, since I last posted, I was on my way to my rural stay, and that´s where I am right now. The city is called Llano Bonito and it reminds me so much of my trip to Jamaica with Joe, GGG, and Ripon College students! I chose this city because it is where I am going to conduct my research for my Music, Identity...and Culture? final research paper. I´m not exactly sure what my title is anymore or what question exactly I´m going to write it on because my professor encouraged me to reasearch a more specific topic, since I don´t have that much time left in the semester. Apparently this is like my Psych classes where I want to tackle on thesis topics instead of small research papers! Oh well, it´s best for me to listen to my professors on this one because I don´t want to stress myself out with more questions than I can research during my three weeks (now two) here!

       Those of you who know me know that I am somewhat of a workaholic and like to constantly keep myself busy. If I want to stereotype, I would say that that is one reason why I miss the United States, because it is one of the top countries for having the population work the longest hours for most days throughout the year. I definitely don´t think that is healthy or so much a good thing for most people who don´t even like their jobs or want to spend more time with their families, don´t get me wrong, but compared to the Costa Rican culture here where most of my days are spent watching TV for hours on end...yeah, I miss the busy life of the United States and feeling like I have a busy schedule at least Monday-Friday. I am in Llano Bonito with one of my ACM friends Christina and we feel like this is more of a vacation than volunteering to work with making natural products with the Women´s Organization here, or me teaching computer classes to the women! Joe says I should really try to find my inner relaxed and non-busy Crystal while I am here, since that is the way of the Costa Rican culture, and I really am trying. But I don´t like watching TV for six hours a day, only giving computer classes (my supposed to be busy job here) three days a week for two hours, and then free time for the rest of the 24 hours a day. My host family house here only has two channels on the TV (both are either news, soap operas or soccer) and no internet or computer, hence why we only watch TV all day! Just like Jamaica, however, this place makes me very grateful for the sources of entertainment I have back in the United States that is just a normal part of my every-day life. I go to Christina´s host family every day for a couple hours to use their computer for internet, but that still leaves me with a lot of free time throughout the rest of the day. If I was back at home, I would just go to a friend´s house or go our somewhere fun in the city...but the only fun place to go here without wanting to pay to take a bus somewhere for an hour are the local bars with pinball machines. Haha, and when we do go to a family´s house just to visit...guess what they are doing and what we just end up doing as well? Watching soap operas on TV. I sleep ten hours a day just to take off hours of the day from watching TV! Also, Christina and I joke around that the families are trying to make us overweight because of all the delicious food they feed us sometimes five large meals a day! That is one element I know I am going to miss when I get back to the United States...the excellent food here. It seems like ALL the women in Costa Rica are excellent cooks and I want to eat everything in front of me, which isn´t good since they put so much food out for us on the table. Every morning I wake up here looking forward to hot chocolate and a fresh, cheese tortilla thing, can´t remember the name in Spanish, and marshmellow frosted flakes, something I haven´t had in over seven years.

       The scenery here truly is beautiful though - very natural and peaceful. While in one of the houses here (for an interview for my research), she told me to look out the window, and all I saw was a valley of mountains, just like the photo below! The view was incredible! It was probably one of the best views I have seen here in Costa Rica (and I´m sure I have many more to come). I wish anyone who loves natural resources and is against logging or deforestation could see this place. I believe the photo below is of cocoa trees. It was awesome because the woman pointed out the cocoa workers on the mountain across from us; they were so far away they looked like mini-people.

       Here is another picture of what the valley and mountains look like here. :) You can see some houses if you look really hard. It´s very pretty at night when you only see the street lights across the mountain against all the fog here, and there is a lot. It has as much fog as Marina, CA!

       So, my journey contines on in Llano Bonito. Although I don´t have internet or cable in my host family´s house, at least I have warm water - warm, but not hot like in San José. Poor Christina has to bathe in ice-cold water. I´ve already done that in Jamaica for two weeks, I´m very grateful I don´t have to do that again! The showers are different here in Costa Rica though to where you have to only turn on the water a tad bit, otherwise you don´t get any warm water! I think a large group of the ACM students had to figure that out the hard way after taking a couple of cold showers. I didn´t though, since I asked my family in San José the first day if I had access to hot water! So during my first shower in Costa Rica, I messed around with the shower knob until I figured out how to access the hot water. That´s it for now...can´t wait until I see Elliot, family and friends near Christmas-time! :)